It takes a special kind of political acumens for a regional Canadian politician to make news headlines both north and south of the border, but Danny Williams has done it.

The Blogosphere across North America lit up a few weeks ago with the news that the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador was heading to an undisclosed American medical facility for a no-further-details-given heart surgery last week. Canadian progressives are chastising Williams for bailing on his at-home medical options while American opponents of healthcare reform get a new scapegoat for why a public option doesn’t work.

Simplistic? Probably. Williams’ people were less than helpful when the news broke, initiating what CBC reporter Janyce McGregor called a “cone of silence” about the matter.

What we do know is that after “weeks of consultation” with doctors, Williams decided to head stateside for the surgery which was apparently unavailable in his home province. This was according to Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale, for whom the odious duty of informing the media fell.
(more…)

The Canadian government’s response to the H1N1 virus has been widely criticized for its perceived lack of foresight regarding its ability to inform and inoculate an increasingly frightened public.

Although the actual logistics of providing the vaccine are largely being seen to by individual provincial health services, Steven Harper’s Conservative government has borne the brunt of attacks about their level of preparedness in managing what the World Health Organization has been calling a global pandemic of so called ‘Swine Flu’ since August 29, 2009.

On October 21, 2009, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. David Butler-Jones hosted a joint press conference in Ottawa to urge all Canadians to ward against this new, highly virulent and potentially deadly strain of influenza.

“I’m happy to say that today Health Canada has authorized the H1N1 flu virus vaccine,” said a reassuring Aglukkaq, “This is a milestone in our efforts to fight H1N1 flu virus.”
(more…)

The greatest thing about H1N1 is that it heightened social anxiety that is now out of control.

If government’s can’t control their message and act as the source for all direction, in a country with a national health care program and billions being dumped to support its existence, then people need to take this cue and start figuring things out for themselves.

Cudos to the media for enabling all of this ridiculousness. But like every other catastrophic doomsday prediction of the recent past – Y2K, moldy alfalfa sprouts, mad cow disease, etc. it’s great TV. But it’s starting to make humanity look like complete idiots.

In the last week, as the flu started to sweep across Canada with a predictable vengeance immediately after a 13 year old young rising hockey superstar from Ontario died, supposedly from H1N1, the circus began. I grieve for his parents but I don’t know if the media’s play on this was necessary. But it was unavoidable.
(more…)

Preventative health measures seem to be all the rage, and so they should be!

In a time when economic and political stresses and strains weigh heavily on the minds of not only our leaders but every individual as the try to cope with the realities of an economic downturn, preventative measures seem to be an affective answer to some areas of concern.

The CHHS-AP has released a report focused on finding ways to prevent heart problems before they happen. A proactive approach to what is quickly becoming the deadliest of diseases around the world with an estimated 23.4 million people worldwide set to die from heart diseases by 2030 (WHO, 2008). In Canada alone 1 in every 20 people are diagnosed with a CV (Cardio-vascular) disease and this number could increase if nothing is done.
(more…)